Rising and Falling
by xTamashii
Summary: Chapter Two Who is this guy? Why is he so calm? Why is he so goodlooking? Why? Hagi x Saya, Solomon x Saya DISCONTINUED
1. Future Plans and a Great Fall

Here's my first shot at a Blood+ fic. It's AU, and it's AU because I think I'll butcher the plot of the series if I write a fic that is not AU. The characters are going to be rather OOC. Don't say I didn't warn you. Although I feel like I'm making Saya stubborn like she used to be when she had her hair longer.

There are two pairings in this. Eventually, I will have to drop one of the pairings, but that won't be for a while. I really hope this won't be too long, because when I intend to write a short multi-chaptered fic, it gets out of hand and becomes too long. That's when I slack off on updating.

Well, please tell me what you think of this first chapter. I'll love you forever if you review.

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Rising and Falling:

_1. Future Plans and a Great Fall_

The town wasn't very big, but it wasn't very small, either. People bustled about to do their daily tasks, and merchants laid out their wares, shouting out new items and prices in their rough, loud voices. Children laughed and screamed as they played, while their parents watched with small smiles on their lined faces.

For the townspeople, this was life. This was normal. This was everything they needed, and nobody wanted anything more.

Our story begins here.

In the center of this town, there stood a palace whose sheer size attracted looks from the passerby. The huge stony towers and spires stood out like blood on snow. After a while, most newcomers grew accustomed to seeing the giant building every day, and lost interest.

Within this place there lived a small family with servants, butlers, and maids swarming the spacious interior.

The father, the master of the household, was a noble and a well-respected lord.

His wife, in charge of the many servants, butlers and maids, was also a well-respected noble.

Their first daughter, Saya, was a bright young girl who sometimes preferred to disregard the laws and escape her enormous home.

Needless to say, whenever she did this, her parents weren't satisfied.

Saya was quite clever and managed to succeed in her escapes…most of the time.

That was, until her parents decided to stop giving her free reign and lock her up in her room with servants outside the doors like prison guards. Naturally this upset her. She enjoyed running about in the streets, blending in with the crowd rather than standing out from it.

She dropped her head to her arms, unable to look out the window anymore. This was too much. Her parents were overdoing it. She would definitely have a word with them.

A soft knock pulled her from her reverie. She scrambled up, sighed, and made her way to the door. She cracked it open a bit, sighed again, then opened it all the way.

Her mother walked swiftly into her room, seating herself on the sofa. Her mother wasn't _really _strict…most of the time, at least. Saya preferred her father's company.

Her mother had dark hair like her, except it was longer and she twisted it up into a high bun. She wore bright red lipstick and stuffy perfume, along with lots of eye shadow. Her hazel eyes always had a lazy, content look about them, but when she was angry, her glare was vicious.

Saya always felt her own looks contrasted greatly with her mother's. Saya had dark hair, but was cut 'unreasonably short' as her mother put it. She left her bangs longer and let them fall to the side. Her eye were a reddish-brown, almost a dark maroon. She wore no make-up, and her eyes were usually quite serious.

"Saya," her mother began, "we need to talk. About your future."

Saya sighed and rolled her eyes so her mother couldn't see, and sat down on the sofa next to her.

"Yes, Mother?"

"Your father and I were thinking…" Saya tapped her foot impatiently as she trailed off.

"Your father and I were thinking that you should get married soon."

Saya's eyes went wide, her moth fell open, and all she could do was splutter uselessly. Married? No, no, no, no, no.

_Marriage _was most definitely NOT on her list of 'things to do' in life. That was the _last _thing she would be thinking of. She couldn't even believe her mother was asking her this.

"W-w-why?" She barely managed to get that word out.

"Why not?" Her mother gave her a strange, speculating look.

"Mother, I don't _want _to get married. That will ruin my life! Especially an arranged marriage!" She groaned, leaning back against the couch.

"Saya, that's not very good behavior." Her mother narrowed her eyes a bit. "I never said it was going to be arranged. You will be meeting the young men your father has chosen, and you can choose."

"That still counts as an arranged marriage in my book." Saya couldn't help it; her temper was beginning to leak out.

Her mother's eyes narrowed even more. "You have no choice."

With that, she swept out of the room, half slamming the door behind her, leaving Saya to her thoughts.

Saya glared at the closed doors, focusing her resentment and bitterness into it.

This was far from fair or rational. She couldn't go through with this. She wouldn't go through with this. It wasn't right.

With a sigh, she flopped down on her bed, grinning a bit at the thought of her mother's expression if she had seen that.

Her weak grin immediately faded as she stared at the ceiling and thought about her arranged marriage again.

There was only one way to negate her parent's plans. That was to marry someone _she _fell in love with _first. _That way her parents couldn't control her life anymore. The grin returned to her face in a heartbeat.

She wouldn't really fall in love. Of course not. She didn't want love.

That was it. That was the plan. She would take things into her own hands. As much as she resented marriage, if she loved the man she was marrying, things would be different. As a plus, her parents couldn't keep her prisoner in her own room. She would find her own home, live her own life…

Her thoughts strayed away, her mind dwelling on her dreams and fantasies.

Freedom. To be different. To create her own plans for the future.

It was a comforting thought. There was nothing her parents could do about it if she chose for herself. Everything was going to be perfect. Saya smiled widely now.

She would like to see someone try and stop her.

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Night enfolded the palace in it's cool, dark arms. Everyone was sleeping. Much to Saya's happiness, her prison guards were snoring as well. Even better. For now, she had to run. She had to get away from her parents and their longing to control her. But she wouldn't have any of that. Her window was open; the cool night air seeped in to meet her.

The stars shimmered softly, and there was peace. For now, at least, and that was definitely something.

She climbed out her window to stand on the balcony. She couldn't go through the door to the balcony; her parents had locked it up.

The cool breeze brushed the hair off her face and caused her skirt to sway around her. With a resigned sigh, she peered over the edge of the balcony. Well, it wasn't that far down, and the hedges were directly below it.

She knew it would probably hurt a lot and she might break something, or even kill herself, but suddenly, she found that she no longer cared. It wasn't as if she _wanted _to die. She just suddenly felt a sense of recklessness overcome her, a longing to jump. It was stupid and foolish to do this, she knew, but it was better than being trapped in your room all day. Maybe her parents would even postpone her marriage…

She stayed like that for a while, leaning over the balcony, her eyes closed and lost in thought. She didn't notice that she was slowly leaning farther and farther over the edge…

…until she was falling. Her eyes were wrenched open and she bit her lip to keep from screaming. She could hear the air rushing around her ears, and landed squarely in the hedges. She winced. Now _that _hurt.

There was a loud ringing in her ears, and her eyes felt dry and wouldn't stop watering. When she lifted her left arm to wipe her eyes, pain immediately shot through her arm, She groaned and lowered her arm back onto the hedge. Most definitely broken.

She moved her right arm, and to her relief, found that this wasn't painful. She dragged her hand across her eyes to wipe them dry, then glanced down at her legs. She hadn't moved them, and was afraid to. She clenched her jaw, and lifted her left leg. She sighed hugely, happy that it wasn't broken. She quickly lifted her right leg, bracing herself for pain. Pain never came. Both of her legs were intact. Well, more or less. She had numerous scrapes and bruises, but those would heal.

She clenched her jaw and carefully stood up. For whatever reason, her vision was growing blurry. Her eyes weren't watering, and she had never had bad eyesight.

She blinked in an attempt to clear it. When the blurriness remained, she ignored it and trudged on, holding lightly onto her left arm to prevent it from being jostled around.

Her vision was getting worse. She squinted, and shook her head to clear it.

Once she reached the end of the immense gardens, she almost cried with happiness. Those gardens were so huge she could camp there and never be found. But she was desperate to put as much distance between her and her parents as possible. Perhaps there was an inn in the town. It was a good thing she had brought her money.

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There weren't many people out at this hour. She was one of the few. She passed a few people, all males, who grinned slyly at her as she passed. She was tempted to glare, but restrained herself. It wouldn't do any good.

After about another hour of walking, her legs felt as if they were about to give way beneath her, and her vision hadn't improved at all. She swayed a bit, and stumbled over to a wall, leaning on it for support.

The sharp pains in her arm had turned into a painful throbbing. If she didn't take care of it soon, it would be in even worse condition.

She swallowed hard, struggling to stay awake, when she heard loud footsteps approaching her, accompanied by gruff voices.

"Hey there girlie, why don'tcha come and hang out with us…we'll take care of ya."

The stench of alcohol was suffocating. She wanted to gag, but now would be the time, she tried to breath through her mouth.

"No thanks." She tried to say it was coldly as possible, and made an attempt to stumble away. One of the creeps caught her.

"Aw, come one, don't be like that. Just make up happy…"

His disgusting breath whirled into her face, and she wanted to scream.

"Get your filthy, hoodlum hands off of me, you pig." She spat at him, and tried to run this time. Two of them grabbed her, restraining her.

"Look here wench, you'll so as we ask." His words were slurred, he was obviously drunk.

"Is that so?" She tried to sound offhand, but inside, she was scared to death. What would she do?

Just then, another set of footsteps approached. She heard some yelps, thuds, then silence. She didn't even noticed she was on the ground until a hand was extended to her. She looked up; her vision was so bad she couldn't see the person's face.

She groped out, grabbing the hand, and tried to stand. She fell sideways, and the person caught her. Before she could do anything, her consciousness was slipping and her blurred vision darkened,

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I'll update only of people like it. Again, my first Blood+ fic, yes the characters will probably be rather OOC, but I intended it to be that way. I hope you enjoyed it.


	2. A Mystery Man and a Frienship

Since I got some very kind reviews I decided to update. Thank you to those who reviewed and boosted my morale.

Hagi will make his debut in this chapter, so rejoice, Hagi fans!

On with the story…

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Rising and Falling:

_2. A Mystery Man and a Friendship_

The first thing she noticed when she awoke was that she was lying on a bed. Saya forced open her heavy eyes to bright sunlight. How long was she asleep, anyways? She had escaped very early in the morning, so now it was probably afternoon.

Then…how did she wind up here?

She sat up very suddenly, her left arm swinging. It was heavy, stiff, and sore. She glanced at her arm, only to find it wrapped up in a splint.

Huh. So it really was broken.

She blinked. The sunlight seemed a thousand times brighter than normal, and it stung her eyes. She squinted, then reached up to scratch her head. She was most certainly astonished to find a bandage wrapped around her head. Had she hit it during the fall? She was pretty sure she hadn't.

Then she remembered her blurred vision. Oh. Crap. So that's what it was.

She still had various scratches and bruises covering her arms and legs, and was dressed in the same clothes she had left in. That was always a good sign.

She struggled to think back to last night, vaguely remembering someone catching her after she passed out. Maybe her head really was bad. Oh boy, she hoped not.

So the creeps hadn't gotten a hold of her. Definitely another plus.

But another question formed in her mind: Who rescued her?

She looked around the small house. There wasn't anything extraordinary about it; it was small, not filthy, but rather neat.

She felt strangely comfortable here. Safe. She didn't understand why she felt that way, or how, but it was something she couldn't control.

Apparently, whoever was here was now gone. Temporarily or permanently, she had no idea.

She slowly sat up, slinging her legs over the side of the bed. She stood up, taking one last glance around the room before heading towards the door.

Unfortunately for her, she collided with something solid, warm, and most likely alive.

"Oof!" She fell backwards, but a pair of arms encircled her waist before she could.

Then the blood rushed to her face. She really, honestly couldn't help it. Now she was more or less conscious, and very aware of the person's muscled arms around her waist.

She chose then to look up.

The person was a man, obviously, and he was rather…_big. _

He was quite tall, broad-shouldered and muscular. His skin was rather pale, which surprised her, considering that most villagers had coppery, tanned skin.

His eyes were cold, yet something drew her to them. She had never seen eyes like that.

He had wavy, dark hair which flowed over his broad shoulders.

He said nothing. Whether he noticed her scrutiny or not, she couldn't quite tell.

His icy eyes bored into hers, and she couldn't look away. Her face still had a oink tinge, but that was all that remained of her previous blush.

"Are you alright?" His voice was deep, slightly emotionless and detached. It wasn't something she could describe with ease. She flushed again, even darker this time, and inwardly berated herself. Wow, she was being an idiot right now.

"I'm fine." She said it quickly and quietly, hoping her voice sounded some semblance of normal.

He nodded, carefully releasing her.

She straightened herself up, pretending to dust off her skirts so she would have something other than him to concentrate on.

When she had been looking for freedom, possibly adventure, she truly wasn't expecting to land up under the care of such a beautiful man!

He simply watched her, never averting his rather blank gaze. She noticed this of course, and it began to irritate her ever so slightly.

"Is there something you want?" She kept her voice as low and calm as possible. She knew full well she was being a little bit rude, but after last night she didn't feel like being polite or trusting anyone. Much less this strange man whose name she did not yet know. So she wasted no time with niceties.

His reply came a few second later. "Not really." His voice carried the same calm, detached, emotionless tone. Saya could have sworn she felt a vein pursing in her temple.

Sure, she knew she was being extremely unreasonable and letting her ridiculous temper get out of hand, but she had gone through too much to remain calm anymore.

She raised her eyes to meet his. Of course, his expression hadn't changed. This only succeeded in infuriating her more. Muttering various curses under her breath, she attempted to trudge out of the house in a very un-ladylike manner. A bitter smirk twisted her features as she thought of what her mother might say if she had witnessed such behavior.

Unfortunately for her, her foot caught on a loose spot on the floor, and she flew forward, arms flailing wildly in the air. Dear God, how many times did she have to fall today? Something told her today would be absolute crap.

But of course, that mystery man caught her around the wait again, turning her around. Much to her dismay, she flushed again. _Damn it! Why do I keep doing that? _She honestly wanted to smack herself. Curses.

Once again, he straightened her up. With a heavy sigh, she felt her temper melt away like hot butter. She had forgotten that she had even been mad in the first place. With a heavy sigh, she faced him, reluctantly.

"Sorry for losing my temper." She muttered grudgingly.

The man nodded. He really didn't speak much. _Talk about tall, dark, and handsome, _she mused.

"What's your name?"

"Hagi."

"Hm. Nice to meet you, I guess. I'm Saya."

Hagi simply nodded. Wow, scratch that, he _really _didn't speak unless he really, absolutely had to. She wasn't used to such silent men. It was a nice change, though.

She smiled, if a little awkwardly and hesitantly, and was blown away when she saw the corners of his mouth twitch. _That's an improvement._

You wouldn't think that would be the start of a friendship.

Oh, but it was, and maybe even something more…

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Sorry if you thought it was a tad short, I was short on time here and hadn't updated in a while.

Thanks so much for all the reviews I got! Because of that, I'm continuing the story! ;3 It's nice to know people like this.

Well, please review, and hopefully chapter 3 will come much quicker than this.


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